cringey
/ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒi/
"cringey" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cringey” is uncommon English (frequency #51,638 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,638
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Characterised by causing feelings of embarrassment; embarrassing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cringey · cringey · English
cringey · rank #51,638 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,638
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH creditable
Nearest frequency peer: creditable (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “cringey”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- crags
crags
48,367 corpus weight
- creak
creak
48,365 corpus weight
- creditable
creditable
48,364 corpus weight
- cringey
cringey
48,363 corpus weight
- curatorial
curatorial
48,361 corpus weight
- cutesy
cutesy
48,360 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “cringey” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cringey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #51,638 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cringey” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cringey is uncommon English at frequency #51,638 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for cringey in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From cringe + -y. The correct English form is cringey, spelled C-R-I-N-G-E-Y.
Definition
- 1Characterised by causing feelings of embarrassment; embarrassing.
- 2Cringing; cowardly.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how cringey appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
During a recent appearance on “The Last Laugh” podcast, the actor, who played Dwight Schrute on the hit NBC comedy, talked about how cringey parts of the series could be.
Etymology
From cringe + -y.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cringey", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).